Child development profiles and school placement trajectories: association with behavioral and sociability traits in children aged 9-10 years in the Brazilian Amazon

• Grant number: 24/01018-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2024
• End date: February 29, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Bárbara Hatzlhoffer Lourenço
• Grantee: Joanna Manzano Strabeli Ricci
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Saúde Pública (FSP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/03136-0 - Trajectories of child nutrition, development and schooling in the context of the Brazilian Amazon: opportunities and challenges for reaching human potential, AP.PNGP.PI

Abstract

In this project, neuropsychomotor development profiles during early childhood will be investigated in relation to the construction of educational indicators among children aged 9-10 years in Cruzeiro do Sul (AC), characterizing associations with behavioral and sociability outcomes. The doctoral student will develop modeling of child development profiles considering repeated measures of global results of the Denver II screening test, as well as the personal-social, fine motor, broad motor and language sub-scales, as carried out among participants in the MINA-Brazil Study up to the age 2 years. Trajectories of school placement will consider information compiled from the School Census between the expected start in basic education and, from this event, grade-year distortion, presence of approvals, repetition, dropout and evasion, and years of success and school delay up to 9-10 years. The doctoral student will take part in the integration of longitudinal data from the MINA-Brazil Study and the School Census, as well as the training stages, definition of instruments, planning and execution of the fieldwork phase at 9-10 years, in school settings. The plan includes data cleaning and management routines and the use of mixture modeling techniques to estimate child development profiles and school placement trajectories, and their associations with behavioral and sociability characteristics observed at 9-10 years of age. The student will have the opportunity to develop an excellent academic training program and improve research skills, collaborate with a team of researchers from national and international institutions, participate in fieldwork and longitudinal data analysis courses, and prepare, publish and present derived manuscripts, while also supporting the construction of strategies for translating the knowledge produced.